Culture Aplenty is social comment and awareness about all things artsy and culturally interesting in Sparkle City

Editor’s Note: John “Mr. Green” has been the Director of Spartanburg Science Center for 38 years. He will retire on Sunday, May 22, 2016. The public is invite to a drop-in reception in his honor 2-4 p.m. at the Science Center at Chapman Cultural Center. By Adam Wong It’s 1995 or thereabouts, and I am scrambling through a scraggly pinewoods. It’s really muggy and hot, of course, because it’s June in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I have wandered too far away… Read More »

“When words leave off, music begins.” (Heinrich Heine) Film and television directors know this to be true! Soundscapes are the backdrops to our most memorable cinema experiences. Whether it is the mournful strains of the lone oboe as the camera pans the lush jungles of the Amazon in The Mission or soaring strings as Julie Andrews ascends the top of the Alps in The Sound of Music, music carries our emotions in ways that words or pictures alone, cannot. Music… Read More »

What do people think about when you mention kites? Most people think of the Charlie Brown diamond design in a solid red, blue, green, or yellow. My first experience with kites was with this type, and I never considered them art when I flew them. I liked the pull of the kite on the line and having some control over it. I also liked being outdoors. A few years later I had the experience with a different design called a… Read More »

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What do people think about when you mention kites? Most people think of the Charlie Brown diamond design in a solid red, blue, green, or yellow. My first experience with kites was with this type, and I never considered them art when I flew them. I liked the pull of the kite on the line and having some control over it. I also liked being outdoors. A few years later I had the experience with a different design called a delta, which is a triangle shape. These kites used different colors in the same kite-like black/red or green/yellow. These were prettier in the sky but, again, I did not consider them art. After many years of modest kite flying, I met some very serious kite makers and fliers, and was blown away (pun intended) by their kites. The array of kites I saw was amazing.

There were Chinese, Indian, European, and American designs. Sizes ranged from a postage stamp to the size of a truck, a big truck. I admired many of these kites and the skills of the builders that showed in their frames, the fabrics used, the designs used (some from century old designs and some more recently designed by the builder), and the colors and the design on the surface. Even with the impression from these kites, I did not consider them to be art. In my mind art was a painting, a photograph, or a sculpture. One day I was walking down a hallway of a school when I saw a poster of “Icarus Falling” by Matisse. This is the striking picture of an abstract twisting black figure on a blue background with bright yellow star-like bursts.

When I saw it I felt a burst of emotion and thought, “That could be made into a kite.” So I recreated the poster into a kite, using a 500-year-old rectangular design called the De la Porta. Once the kite was built, I had another thought, “Art in the sky.” Why not take the art I see on a wall, recreate it into a kite, and put it up in the sky where more people can see it? Why not take the inspiration from a beautiful stained glass window, recreate it as a kite and fly it with the sun behind it to let more people enjoy it?

Why not create spars from bamboo and other materials and sculpture the wood into a smooth and strong design? Why not take a piece of walnut wood, polish it, and make a beautiful line winder using the natural bend of the wood? Why not look at birds, which over thousands of years, have inspired us to look up at the heavens and replicate them in a kite? And when we do all of these things, it will let people look at them and feel emotion that comes from something beautiful and inspiring. Let them look at art in the beautiful environment of the out-of-doors.

Michelangelo Pistoletto said in Art’s Responsibility: Above all, artists must not be only in art galleries or museums — they must be present in all possible activities. The artist must be the sponsor of thought in whatever endeavor people take on, at every level.

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Chuck Holmes has lived in Spartanburg for 37 years with his wife Karen Henderson Holmes. They have two daughters and two granddaughters. Both daughters are kite fliers and award-winning kite makers. Chuck has been flying kites since a youth and making kites for more than 50 years. He is a member of the American Kitefliers Association and a founding member of Spartanburg Soaring Kite Club (Facebook).